Blondes clamor for a piece of the ‘fish’ pie

If you find yourself in Biloxi then you ain’t far from good fishing. When I booked my one day fishing trip for the 9th with Fish Finder Charters, Sheila was easy to communicate with on everything I inquired about. As owner she knew her business well being married to the captain. After deciding this date was most likely the best to avoid foul weather she still told me I would need to check with them before coming because of the possibility of high wind. So I did that before heading down the day before to my barrier island trip. My wife Billie Jo accompanied me on this trip to the coast and as always declined on my invitation for the fishing part of it. We enjoyed an excellent seafood dinner at McElroy’s on the evening before.

Billie Jo dropped me off at the marina at 6 am where I met my boat captain/gulf guide Mike Foto. After a 30 minute ride across the wind chopped waters of the gulf we stopped at the edge of an Island. While wetting the hook a few times on a slow start I took in some faded history drifting around the island that is east of Ship Island where a deserted cannon sat in the sand. The island netted us a trip in time with my imagination of what of it was like to defend our country in 1812. After spending only a little while fishing the edge of the island Mike headed for one of the oil well heads where it didn’t take long to get the first bite.

It was fun catching that first Sheepshead that demonstrated it’s displeasure of being caught. These things are a really fun fish to catch and took my mind completely off history and on the present. They are awesome fighters nicknamed prisoner fish because of their black and white stripes. That same nickname could also be applied to them for their passion to get away when caught on a hook. With a body shaped like a Bluegill they have speed along with an amazing torque for an awesome fight while trying to escape. When I boated my first one I looked at it real close. This soon to be first inmate looked at me and I thought he was gonna introduce himself.

This character has more than stripes to define his unique difference from other fish. When I looked in his mouth I started laughing immediately at what I saw. I was not expecting a fish to have teeth that looks like that of a person. So the more I looked at it’s teeth the more I laughed. I mean fish ain’t supposed to have people teeth. But somebody forgot to tell them that. So each time I caught one of those broadsided brawlers I laughed upon seeing that look I got from them. It seemed important to each one of them that I get a look at their teeth. Catching Sheepshead fish is not only fun it is funny. So we put the first one in the cooler to a punishment of solitary confinement (that only lasted for a little while).

Can you imagine how a fish would laugh at us if we had gills. Maybe that’s why I laughed so hard at Kevin Costner when Waterworld flopped like a gigantic fish outta water. I felt like a fish after biting on that trailer. I wanted everybody’s money back. Not a single time while catching and detaining 15 of these runners could I restrain myself from laughing at those teeth. I pardoned a pair of them turning them back out to sea and they tore out like hunted fugitives on the lam. A Sheepshead-Prisoner Fish on the lam. Okay I’ll ease up a bit on that stuff some, but life is just funny sometimes. Honestly this was much more entertaining than Waterworld. Universal could have saved 200 million and took some good eating fish home. Or simply released them. It would have been much better than that big budget mess they released.

My son has pointed out a few times after bad movies-at least the popcorn was good. I didn’t need no popcorn to have fun on this fishing trip. I’m telling ya, I loved catching these bad boys that fought as if they suspected incarceration if caught. About midway through the count of a bunch of fish that appeared they needed flossing more than they needed the shrimp they were biting I caught a White Perch that was too small too keep. Then a couple of fights later I hooked one and announced to Mike, “I don’t think this one’s a Sheepshead.” He replied, the way that rod’s bending and the line’s pulling you may have a big drum.

After quite a long tug of war and fight with this big rascal I finally got him boated to prove Mike correct. The Black Drum species are edible but Mike explained the big ones like I caught are full of parasites. While Mike took a photo this fish sounded off for his namesake with that bass drum pounding. It sounded so much like a real drum I almost expected the full band and cheer of an audience for a moment.

So I put the big drummer boy back to sea and then finished out the fishing on more of those toothy little outlaws and inmates. A rough half hour ride back to the marina in the wind that beat and tossed the 22’ Bay Boat around at times had me happy to see the fish cleaning station.

Mr. Foto took a few more pictures at the marina where a group of blondes had gathered to marvel at my catch. I was surprised to see this small crowd that was there to rejoice with me over my catch. All of them were natural beach blondes that didn’t have a stitch of clothes on, nothing, not even bikinis. I never knew pelicans were blonde headed until they came up making friends with me. Of course they had their motives. They wanted a share of the fish and we gave it to them. Mike filleted the fish while I fed the pelicans the remains. They served as the easiest way to deal with the entrails and remains. I noticed they were complete in cleanup eating skin, scales, bones & all.

A game warden came over and asked us if we needed any help with anything. He weighed my fish for me. The smallest one came in at almost 4 pounds and the biggest one was 8 lbs-3 oz. Mike had estimated the big Black Drum that I threw back to be about 20 pounds. Pretty good catch for the day. Billie Jo was waiting on me in the pickup. I took one of the fish and showed her and we got a picture of him proudly showing off his teeth. We left the marina and went down the road a little ways to the beach side Shaggy’s restaurant and had us some of that good fried seafood fresh from the gulf for a mid afternoon lunch. Oh how I love the beach. We headed home after a great day of fishing. These Sheepshead fish are really delicious. I put the final sentencing on these Prisoner Fish frying them conventionally with my Louisiana seasoning. I spoke with Mike this morning. They no longer offers trips in the small boat he took me in but a much bigger one now. Mike and Sheila’s company can be found online at www.biloxicharterfishing.com They operate their boat from the Biloxi Small Craft Harbor next door to the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino. Thanks Sheila and Mike for a great time and taking me on my second fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico. I had lots of fun experiencing and writing my Mississippi chapter of Fishing America.